Digital Commons Network^™

Correlations Between Covid-19 Case Growth And Mental Health-Related Internet Search: An Unexpected Finding, Tenghao (Nick) Zhang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

At the time of writing, the number of global con-firmed COVID-19 cases has topped 18.8 million with over 707,000 deaths (1). The Internet plays a pivotal role during this unprecedented pandemic (2,3) in the way that people predominantly use the Internet to contact each other and acquire information due to sweeping stay-at-home orders and strict lockdown restrictions imposed by au-thorities around the world. Health-related mental health issues could lead to spikes in online infor-mation search (4, 5). Therefore, this letter aims to investigate whether the rise of regional COVID cases is correlated with the increase in residents’ online searches of …

The Panopticon Kitchen: The Materiality Of Parental Surveillance In The Family Home, Donell Holloway

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article examines the production and performance of parental surveillance of children’s internet activities within the family home. Through an analysis of qualitative interviews in the family homes of children aged from five to twelve years, the manner in which parents are positioned as ‘instruments of surveillance’ and the materiality of this surveillance are discussed. Parents’ worldly surveillance of their younger children’s internet use in Australian family homes can often be likened to Foucault’s panopticon, where the site of central inspection is often the family kitchen. This is because the physical positioning of spatial dimensions in the standard Australian home …

Going Online On Behalf Of Others: An Investigation Of ‘Proxy’ Internet Consumers, Neil Selwyn, Nicola Johnson, Selena Nemorin, Elizabeth Knight

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A range of Australians find themselves acting as ‘proxy internet users’ – i.e. using online services and applications on behalf of other adults who otherwise make limited use of the internet. It is rare for those adults being supported by proxies to be absolute non-users of the internet. Apart from extreme cases of physical/intellectual incapacity, most people covered by our research were making some use of the internet, if only through smartphones and Apps. Proxy internet assistance often takes place within families – notably elderly parents being helped by their adult sons and daughters. Other proxy users include people acting …

Towards A Participatory Netnography: Collaborating With Children In Virtual Worlds Research, Ashley Donkin, Donell Holloway, Lelia Green

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The new sociology of childhood has encouraged social researchers to incorporate children in as much of the research process as possible. However, whilst some success has been achieved within traditional ethnographic studies, netnography has been slow to make this a reality. This article discusses the previous online research into children’s virtual worlds, which has rarely incorporated young children into the data collection or research analysis processes. The opportunity for researchers to use participatory approaches to collaborating with their child participants and collecting online data is limited due to ethical constraints. The ethical challenges of conducting netnography are compounded by a …

Is The Internet The Main Medium Of Transmitting Terrorism?, Hatem El Zein

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

The influx of virtual media platforms has allowed extremists and terrorists to transmit their messages to wider audiences without passing through a gatekeeper or being a subject to editorial policies existed in traditional media outlets. Thus, extremists and terrorists exploit virtual media platforms to report their actions; propagate their ideologies and ultimately to boost their objectives, because these mediums enabled them to have control over time and space. As a result, some governments work to deprive extremists and terrorists from this 'oxygen' through monitoring the cyberspace to block the suspected virtual media platforms. The reactions of some governments to face …

Online On The Mobile: Internet Use On Smartphones And Associated Risks Among Youth In Europe, G Stald, Lelia Green, M Barbovski, L Haddon, G Mascheroni, B Sagvari, B Scifo, L Tsaliki

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This report analyses how children aged 9-16 changed their internet use between 2010, when most children used fixed computers and laptops, and 2013, with over one-quarter (c. 28%) of 9-12 year olds, and three-fifths (c. 60%) of 13-16 year olds, accessing the internet via a smartphone.

The Internet And The Google Age: Introduction, Jonathan D. James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

No abstract provided.

Internet-Based Photoaging Within Australian Pharmacies To Promote Smoking Cessation: Randomized Controlled Trial, Oksana Burford, Moyez Jiwa, Owen B. Carter, Richard Parsons, Delia Hendrie

Research outputs 2013

Background: Tobacco smoking leads to death or disability and a drain on national resources. The literature suggests that cigarette smoking continues to be a major modifiable risk factor for a variety of diseases and that smokers aged 18-30 years are relatively resistant to antismoking messages due to their widely held belief that they will not be lifelong smokers. Objective: To conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a computer-generated photoaging intervention to promote smoking cessation among young adult smokers within a community pharmacy setting. Methods: A trial was designed with 80% power based on the effect size observed in a …

Untangling The Net: The Scope Of Content Caught By Mandatory Internet Filtering, Catharine Lumby, Lelia Green, John Hartley

Research outputs pre 2011

The following report considers a number of key challenges the Australian Federal Government faces in designing the regulatory framework and the reach of its planned mandatory internet filter. Previous reports on the mandatory filtering scheme have concentrated on the filtering technologies, their efficacy, their cost and their likely impact on the broadband environment. This report focuses on the scope and the nature of content that is likely to be caught by the proposed filter and on identifying associated public policy implications.

We recognise that the Federal Government faces real challenges in balancing the risks posed by the online media environment …

Main Issues Rural Women Experience With Information & Communication Technology, Teresa Maiolo

Research outputs pre 2011

This brief report will outline the main issues rural women encountered with information and communications technology. This information was derived from interviewing twenty-one rural women from the South West, Eastern Goldfields, Murchison, Gascoyne, and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. Recommended actions are given to address each of the main issues.